Put in an offer for a house....

[OHYO]

Even if you have a termite inspection done and it checks out ok I would ask for it to be treated before you take ownership. If the seller doesn’t agree to it be certain to do it yourself. Termite damage is very hard to identify, when it’s found by the uneducated eye of a home owner, its often damaged to the point of major and costly repair. A Termite treatment that provides a barrier often last for 5 yrs.

If you have a friend or family member who’s profession is in construction, I would ask them to help and both of you crawl into the attic and crawl space, it would be time well spent.

BTW I’ve taken vacation this week to repair termite damage to my detached garage/shop that I found a month ago. We had a termite inspection done before ownership in 2009. The detached shop is 30x50, the whole front wall is swiss cheese, it’s amazing the damage done by termites.

[RenoCarolina]

beware "encapsulated crawl spaces".  Not saying yours has one and not saying it is a bad idea.  But if home shopping in an area that has had recent floods it can look neat and clean and advertising ready.  But can hide both mold issues and termite/pest damages. Many pest company's will not bond houses with encapsulated crawl spaces or will only do so if you subscribe to semi- or quarterly monitoring with bait traps  (as opposed to annual).  Also check to see if the encapuslation has a "test strip".

It sounds like you really love this house and are going to find ways to make it work.  If so, nobody is going to talk you out of it and it could very well be the house for you and your new family.  But if you are asking for advise while home-shopping the cardinal rule is not to get emotionally attached to a house and take a close look at 1, 5 and 10 year expenses you will realistically face.  If you are buying an older house below your budget and at a market deal and you have skills, you will gain a remarkable head start in your financial well-being.

But if you are buying an older house at the top of your budget and the top of the local market and it is a first home and there are core issues that could affect resale value I just would caution against a fast close and pay for that top notch inspector. 

 

[Floppin]

As someone who has almost 20 odd years on the construction industry, both custom new construction and renovation, I would advise staying away from anything with existing foundational issues - especially with a history of flooding tacted on top. The drywall cracks and door issues you mentioned earlier are also most likely related to the foundational issues and settling of the structure. Drywall just doesn't "crack" on its own. Unless your getting this house at like 60% market value of a similar house without foundation issues, I would stay the fug away. I've seen countless people make this mistake before. Even if you don't have to fix it immediately, you will eventually and you'll also have substantially higher general maintenance costs until you do. You'll likely never get a return on your investment in the long run.

[LinvilleGorge]

Foundation issues = no go IMO.

You don't want that headache. 

Also, the thing about "up and coming" neighborhoods is those areas get crushed in a housing slump. Up and coming areas only up and come when the real estate market is strong.

[hepcat]

12 hours ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Foundation issues = no go IMO.

You don't want that headache. 

Also, the thing about "up and coming" neighborhoods is those areas get crushed in a housing slump. Up and coming areas only up and come when the real estate market is strong.

I'll offer some more info...this is in Austin, which is a crazy place to be right now. This is a neighborhood & house has close access to downtown and UT (which is a major major employer) and also close to 3 major highways that can take you in all different directions all over the city, brand new supermarkets, restaurants, very hip area. I can't stress enough how great the location is. I've lived in the same neighborhood as this house for 7 years including living literally one street over from this house for 4 years. It's not a neighborhood that will get crushed, it's poised to be one of the best neighborhoods in town.

The foundation issues you definitely have a point and I'm going to wait until they respond to our offer and see what the home inspector says if they accept. From what I understand there is an acceptable limit for foundations before they require leveling and repair and I want to see where it is.

[hepcat]

13 hours ago, Floppin said:

As someone who has almost 20 odd years on the construction industry, both custom new construction and renovation, I would advise staying away from anything with existing foundational issues - especially with a history of flooding tacted on top. The drywall cracks and door issues you mentioned earlier are also most likely related to the foundational issues and settling of the structure. Drywall just doesn't "crack" on its own. Unless your getting this house at like 60% market value of a similar house without foundation issues, I would stay the fug away. I've seen countless people make this mistake before. Even if you don't have to fix it immediately, you will eventually and you'll also have substantially higher general maintenance costs until you do. You'll likely never get a return on your investment in the long run.

I completely agree. The house is already about 20% under the median asking price in the neighborhood and we came in 7% under asking. The thing is, almost every house in this neighborhood has these issues, it's just finding one where it's manageable. The whole neighborhood has houses on concrete slabs built on clay. These houses have been around for 50+ years though, so it's not like they're going to crumble into dust any time soon.

The house doesn't have any gutters (which I plan to add) and the owner put in a french drain in the backyard where the flooding occurred so there is some mitigation done that should help.

[LinvilleGorge]

You need more than just a standard run of the mill home inspector. Find someone with a structural engineering background. I'd also have a soil expert do some tests to go out if the foundation is likely to continue settling, or even worse if there's expansive soils present. 

Yeah, you're going to spend some money on this, but it'd be a drop in the bucket compared to what you might be in for down the road if you don't do these things. Ask the selling realtor if they have any previous inspection results on file. Here in CO, if they've been delivered any previous inspection reports they're required to disclose them. You're right, Austin is a hot market and if this neighborhood is as prime as you're saying, then there's a reason why this house hasn't sold yet despite being attractively priced. You pretty much already know the reason. Now it's up to you to spend a little coin up front to get to the bottom of it or just buy it and hope for the best. Depending on the inspection results, you may even have issues finding a bank willing to lend on this property. That honestly might be part of the reason why it's still available. 

[Zaximus]

22 hours ago, blackcat said:

Don't use an inspector that comes recommended by your realtor and don't be pushed into buying a house you're not comfortable with.  Realtors work for themselves, not you, remember that.

This is wrong, realtors work for the buyer or the seller, not themselves, that's the whole point of getting a realtor in the first place.    There is so much that people don't understand that good realtors do.   

[hepcat]

15 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

You need more than just a standard run of the mill home inspector. Find someone with a structural engineering background. I'd also have a soil expert do some tests to go out if the foundation is likely to continue settling, or even worse if there's expansive soils present. 

Yeah, you're going to spend some money on this, but it'd be a drop in the bucket compared to what you might be in for down the road if you don't do these things. Ask the selling realtor if they have any previous inspection results on file. Here in CO, if they've been delivered any previous inspection reports they're required to disclose them. You're right, Austin is a hot market and if this neighborhood is as prime as you're saying, then there's a reason why this house hasn't sold yet despite being attractively priced. You pretty much already know the reason. Now it's up to you to spend a little coin up front to get to the bottom of it or just buy it and hope for the best. Depending on the inspection results, you may even have issues finding a bank willing to lend on this property. That honestly might be part of the reason why it's still available. 

That's good advice on the inspector. I think I have the right guy lined up. He's a retired commercial construction engineer that does home inspections on the side. We have some friends that hired him last year and said he was top notch

The house has actually only been listed for 5 days. It was previously listed for 100 days over the summer before it was taken down and the recent updates were made (windows, roof, garage doors being the main ones)

[LinvilleGorge]

Get the inspector a list of all the "improvements" that were made and let him know about your concerns. That way he'll go in and pay extra attention looking for evidence of putting lipstick on a pig.

We ran into a similar situation. We we're under contract on a home and I was concerned about foundation issues. The sunroom had a noticeable slope to it and the concrete pad had a major crack in it. I didn't know if the crack was due to a draining issue causing washout underneath the pad or due to soil settling. The inspector (former structural engineer) determined that the slope of the sunroom was likely due to it formerly being an outdoor deck that they enclosed. The slope figures matched the specs of an outdoor deck. He was less certain about the settling vs. drainage issue and recommended bringing in a soil expert if we wanted to proceed. We asked for an inspection date extension in the contract to do this and got push back from the seller so we walked.

Got a call back from that realtor a few weeks later telling me the issue was fixed. Now "fixing" this issue (if the issue in fact existed) would've involved drilling down to bedrock and putting in pillars beneath the foundation. We're talking serious $$$$ due to this house being built literally on the side of a mountain. Those pillars would've probably had to have been 30+ feet. What they ended up doing was repouring the concrete pad and then putting in a garage under the sunroom. In other words, adding who knows how many additional tons of weight extending almost all the way to the edge of the original fill dirt that may have already been settling. Classic lipstick on a pig. Even if that fill wasn't settling before, their "fix" very well may have caused a future issue. I called the inspector back and sent him photos and he just laughed. 

[Anybodyhome]

I'll throw in my two cents as a former real estate home inspector.

As a few before me have stated, foundation issues are no joke and should not be taken lightly nor should they ever be approached with a "something we can address at a later date" belief. When I saw what appeared to be foundation issues, the first thing I did was go look at door and window frames, examining for drywall cracks, the door not true to the frame or not closing, window sashes not smoothly operating, etc. Likewise, when I saw drywall cracks or doors out of square, the first thing I did was go look at the foundation. 

As I said, this is no small issue and could ultimately cost you several, if not tens, of thousands to repair. Not to mention the fact you'll have a very difficult time reselling at some point, which is my next take. Any and every home purchase you make you should always consider the resale market for the house. I don't care if you're believing you'll spend the est of your lives there- you never know what could happen. 

I got paid to inspect the house on behalf of a prospective buyer and I was always keenly aware that the few hundred dollars I was getting paid was to protect their huge investment. I can tell you that a foundation issue would be bolded and red-flagged on any inspection report I submitted. I would also quote chapter and verse of the applicable building codes for any issues I found, provided photographic documentation and would recommend a structural engineer's input for anything which I believed to be a question of structural integrity. 

I don't care if you have to pay an inspector, a structural engineer and a GC to come out and provide you an opinion, don't settle for just one opinion. Also keep in mind the bank has to get the property appraised and keep in mind an appraiser may see the same foundation issue and the bank may decide not to loan you the money to buy the house.   

[Arroz con Panther]

I'd like to also ask, why are you looking to buy a home right now? Is it out of necessity (both you and your future wife's leases are up on an apartment?) or is it because you think you should do it since you're getting married? My wife and I got married, extended our apartment lease for a few months, and looked for a home AFTER the wedding/honey moon. If you can, don't rush it...especially three weeks before your wedding. Enjoy your wedding, move into one of your apartments or wherever you're living, extend the lease if possible, and take your time finding a home.

[hepcat]

1 hour ago, Arroz con Panther said:

I'd like to also ask, why are you looking to buy a home right now? Is it out of necessity (both you and your future wife's leases are up on an apartment?) or is it because you think you should do it since you're getting married? My wife and I got married, extended our apartment lease for a few months, and looked for a home AFTER the wedding/honey moon. If you can, don't rush it...especially three weeks before your wedding. Enjoy your wedding, move into one of your apartments or wherever you're living, extend the lease if possible, and take your time finding a home.

We live together. Lease is up at our current place at the end of August and the landlord has told us he's got an investor lined up to flip the house. He's pushing us to move out but we have the lease until end of Aug no matter what. We don't have to buy. But renting another house of equal quality in our neighborhood would be just about equal to buying month to month. Figured it'd be better to build some equity and cash in on the hot Austin housing market.

[Arroz con Panther]

7 minutes ago, hepcat said:

We live together. Lease is up at our current place at the end of August and the landlord has told us he's got an investor lined up to flip the house. He's pushing us to move out but we have the lease until end of Aug no matter what. We don't have to buy. But renting another house of equal quality in our neighborhood would be just about equal to buying month to month. Figured it'd be better to build some equity and cash in on the hot Austin housing market.

I hear ya. Well, my point still stands. Don't push too hard for the next three (or is it two now) weeks until after you're married. Enjoy the chaos that is your wedding.